Artists Replace 600 Advertisements With The Truth

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Two days before the launch of the UN COP21 Climate Conference, 600 posters were installed in outdoor media spaces across Paris. 82 Artists from 19 different countries made artworks to challenge the corporate takeover of COP21 and to reveal the connections between advertising, the promotion of consumerism and climate change.

“A group of artists under an initiative called the Brandalism project have taken over Paris’s public advertising spaces. The group replaced 600 advertisements throughout the city with artwork that calls out heads of state and corporations that have been complicit in the destruction of the Earth’s climate. The action took place on Black Friday, what the group refers to as the “annual day of consumerist frenzy.” The action was done in order to protest the corporate takeover of COP 21, which is supposed to be a gathering intended to negotiate a global response to climate change.

“Despite the state of emergency banning any gathering, following the attacks of 13 November in Paris, [the] Brandalism project, conducted with Parisian activists, has placed throughout the city hundreds of unauthorized artwork[s]. These posters emphasize the links between advertising, consumerism, dependence on fossil fuels and climate change,” the group said in a statement.

The art used in the project was created by 80 renowned artists from 19 different countries.” said addictinginfo.org

“We take possession advertising space because we want to denounce the role that advertising plays in promoting a consumerism unsustainable. The advertising industry feeds our desires for products based on the exploitation of fossil fuels, which have a direct impact on climate change. As for the climate negotiations and side events sponsored by large companies, the outdoor advertising allows more rich to ensure that their voice is heard beyond all others.”

“The artists replaced advertising space owned by JCDecaux, one of the largest corporate sponsors of the Paris climate talks.” said addictinginfo.org

Joe Elan of Brandalism explains:

“By sponsoring the negotiations climate, major polluters such as Air France and Engie can promote themselves as if they were part of the solution, when they are actually part of the problem .”